The Harvard-Trained Lawyer Behind Trump's Fight Against Top Universities
Ms. Mailman, a 37-year-old Harvard-trained lawyer, is the most important, least-known person behind the administration's relentless pursuit of the nation's premier universities. The extraordinary effort has found seemingly endless ways to pressure schools into submission, including federal funding, student visas and civil rights investigations.
Her hand in deploying these levers of power was evident from the beginning of Mr. Trump's second term. As his ambitions around reshaping higher education expanded, so did her remit. She is credited as an animating force behind a strategy that has intimidated independent institutions and undercut years of medical and scientific research.
The policies Ms. Mailman helped devise — and is now leveraging as she leads the White House's negotiations with colleges — have sent shock waves through higher education, dividing faculty and alarming some students who see an effort to silence dissent. The aggressive tactics could have far-reaching implications for the future of academic freedom, the admissions practices at the most competitive colleges and the global reputations for some of the crown jewels of the nation's university system.
So far, only Harvard has been willing to fight back in court, a sign of the strength of the federal government's negotiating position.
'There are a lot of good ideas floating around this building, but somebody has to capture those ideas, make sure that the right people are involved and that there is a process to put them into action,' Ms. Mailman said in a recent interview at the White House. 'So I'm the catcher of floating ideas.'
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